online shopping

It's sometimes fun to look back at pieces I wrote some time ago and see what came true and what didn't. I think that this was originally written in 2006 and what's interesting is that some of these predictions happened, went away and have come back again. For example, Second Life was very popular at the time, but hasn't been as popular for a few years. However, they are now getting ready to launch a whole new experience Project Sansar.

Guest Post by: Oli Watts

For the past few weeks I’ve been shopping for a new fridge (I’m moving house).

I was very much hoping for the convenience of reading over some online reviews and then making a purchase online. Instead, I found myself taking a trip to my nearest electrical retailer, with iPhone in hand, reading over product reviews on my phone while testing the products for real.

Online retailers are doing relatively well in the current economic climate. Whilst spending is down across the board, online retailers are doing either significantly less badly than their traditional competitors, or they are actually performing strongly. Both ASOS and Vente-Privee are seeing relatively strong performances in a weak retail market.

by: Dick Stroud

There is an excellent article in the WSJ about the idiocy of why companies continue to ignore the spending potential of older women. If you have a WSJ subscription you read it here.

The focus of the article is about the way that the new online fashion sites continue to ape their off-line equivalents.

by: Jonathan Salem Baskin

All this talk about price cuts driving retail sales is driving me nuts.

Nobody goes to a store to get a cheaper deal than they could online or, if they get it, there's an overwhelming likelihood that the store will be out of business sooner versus later. The idea all but explodes any pretense of a store brand meaning anything (other than Wal-Mart, which means cheaper deal).

by: Gary Hayes

A surprising article from New York times right in the epicentre of personalized media. Entitled “Like This? You’ll Hate That.” the article begins on the personalization-bashing band wagon, citing the recent Wal-Mart fiasco and ends thankfully on the side of ‘this-personalized-thing-seems-to-make-sense’. The article also brings key terms into the readers conciousness by referring to:

by: Dick Stroud 

DowntownWomensClub.com, a women’s network and career website, surveyed 500+ businesswomen across three generations about their shopping habits, both online and off.

by: Dick Stroud 

This blog posting is not specific to the 50-plus, other than their contribution as online consumers.

By: David Armano

If you are into customer experiences and how we consumers are changing our behavior as a result of the digital experience renaissance, you should check out this post over at 3mew

by: Lynette Webb 

 Click image to enlarge.